Home
by ellenlovesellen
Summary: Derek comes home from a medical conference to spend Thanksgiving with his wife and their three kids. - ONESHOT COMPLETE.


**First attempt to write a one-shot and especially something T-rated.**

 **I want to thank my beta Veronica - merder32 and I hope you will enjoy this and leave me a review. Anyway, if someone of you would like to read something longer and with a rate slightly higher, you might like to check my other stories.**

 **Enjoy and happy… oh, Thanksgiving had passed, so happy whatever!**

 **Ellen**

* * *

 **Home**

 _ **Let me go home  
I'm just too far from where you are  
I wanna come home  
[...]**_

 _ **And I'm surrounded by  
a million people I  
I still feel alone  
oh, let me come home  
oh, I miss you, you know.**_

Derek sighed in relief as soon as he opened the front door of the house in the woods.

Immediately, the scent - the beloved, familiar scent of Meredith, of their time together, of their life, of their kids - invaded his nostrils.

He had just come back from a week-long neurological conference in Boston, and he had found himself craving to be home more than anything. Tomorrow was Thanksgiving, and even if they had never been exactly the celebrating type of family, Meredith had wanted to have all of them reunited for family time. Both Zola and Bailey were coming back from Dartmouth and Columbia where Zola was getting a degree in Creative Writing and Bailey was in law school. The only one of their kids who wanted to follow in their parents' footsteps was Ellis, the youngest. The girl, even if she was just in high school, had developed a complete obsession for her parents' work and especially for her grandmother's.

Derek dropped his bag near the door and lifted his gaze to meet a comforting, sweet scene: both his wife and his youngest daughter were leaning on the couch, each one of them with a blanket covering their legs. They were watching one of Ellis Grey's surgeries' video tape. Meredith was explaining the procedure to Ellis, the girl watching intently as she nervously bit her nails, her black curly hair up in a messy pony tail.

"Girls," Derek grinned. He couldn't wait anymore to reveal his presence to them.

"Daddy!" Ellis squealed, jumping off the couch and straight into his father's waiting arms. He embraced her body, lithe and light like her mother's, while she giggled happily. Her giggle was very similar to her mother, too, but Derek found Meredith's much more enchanting, probably because it had been one of the numerous reasons he had fallen in love with her. Anyway, Ellis and Zola were totally Daddy's princesses, even if Ellis was already a teenager and Zola practically an adult.

"How are you?" Derek asked, finding his daughter's green eyes, shape and shade exactly like Meredith's.

"Fine," she assured. "Mom and I were watching Grandma's miracles".

Derek caressed Ellis' face one last time and approached the couch, letting his tired body fall next to Meredith.

"Welcome home," she breathed. Derek gave her his best McDreamy smile, circling her shoulder with an arm, and he didn't waste time but leaned over and took her mouth with his. He pumped his mouth against Meredith's, happy to be home, while Ellis' gaze was again trained on her Grandmom, performing the Grey Method on the screen.

"How was your trip?" Meredith asked, smiling widely.

"Good," he nodded, pulling his fingers through her blonde hair. She had always worn them long and curly around her shoulders, but now they were straight and short, reaching middle-neck. "Long and tiring. I would have liked it if you would have been with me"

"I missed you too," Meredith stated, reaching out to softly kiss him again. Ellis' eyes didn't leave the screen: she was entirely used to her parents' constant PDA.

"Where are ZoZo and Bails?" He asked, looking around the room.

"Zo is in her room catching up with an essay for school, and Bay is out for ice cream with Amelia. You know how he is with his aunt… He likes her better than me"

"He doesn't," Derek assured. "You're better than Amy. Hotter, too," he smirked, letting his eyes discreetly fall on her curves, still as enchanting as they were years ago.

"Of course you think Mom's hot, Dad," Ellis stated, rolling her eyes without actually look at them. "Aunt Amy is your baby sis"

"Still, your mother is better"

"I have two guys in my classroom, they have just started dating, but they're not as sickening as you".

Derek laughed, an arm tightening around Meredith's shoulders.

"You should consider yourself really lucky," her mother commented. "Not everyone has loving parents as you do," her tone stern, remembering her own childhood. Derek silently kissed his wife's head while Ellis replied with a "Uh".

In that moment Zola made her appearance in the living room, beaming as soon as she saw her father. "Hey, Dad! Already glued to mom, I see".

Their kids always made fun of how sweet their parents where to each other. When Meredith was not at Derek's side it was because Bailey was around. Just like Zola and Ellis were totally their father's daughters, Bailey was still a mama's boy.

Derek rose to his feet to embrace his first child, rubbing the girl's back. She was skinny, wearing a pair of jeans and a simple sweater, and her hair straight, almost reaching her shoulders, a light make-up on her dark skin.

"How are you?"

"I love college,"Zola declared, sitting on the couch between Derek and Ellis, the youngest girl's eyes still on the TV. "How was your conference?"

"Boring," Derek explained, taking Meredith's hand casually. "I'm too old to travel, I would have rather stayed home"

"You're not old," Meredith automatically replied, even if she was watching the TV along with her daughter, the surgery having reached a critical moment.

"Do you need me to cook Thanksgiving dinner, tomorrow?" Derek asked his wife.

"Unless you want mom to do it," Zola commented, and Derek grinned.

"Maggie is cooking. She's coming over with Amelia and Owen".

Zola was about to make a comment about how anti-social her mother and sister were when Ellis Grey's tapes were on, but the door opened and Bailey made his appearance, the only things revealing he was in fact Derek's son were the height, the shape of his body and the blue, bright eyes. For the rest, the boy was a Grey. Fair skin, blonde hair and the exact smile of his mother.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Where's Amy?" Meredith asked, moving gently from Derek's side

"He appears and I'm immediately the second choice," Derek clucked.

"She said she has things to do with Uncle Owen," Bailey explained, waving at his sisters, patting Derek's back and embracing Meredith.

"Are you still jealous?" he played with his mother, wrapping his arms around her neck from behind and kissing her head. Bailey was anything but a physical guy: his cuddling side came out just with Meredith. The whole family used to mess with him, calling him _Mama's Boy_ and complaining about how every girl in Bailey's life would run away instead of being compared to Meredith.

"You came home this morning. You should have known better than leaving me to have ice cream with your Aunty Amy!" Meredith pouted, saying _Aunty Amy_ in a sarcastic tone.

"I had coffee with Aunt Maggie this morning and no one complained," Zola stated, and Derek struggled. Every one of their kids had their own favorite Aunt or Uncle: Amelia for Bailey, Maggie for Zola and Alex for Ellis. Karev wasn't blood-related to Meredith or Derek, but after so many years he was practically Meredith's brother and the three of them called him _Uncle_.

"That's because just your Mom would freak out about Bails going out for an hour with my sister"

"Sometimes I feel like Mom prefers Bay to Dad," Zola commented, grinning.

"I hope she does," Bailey said, tightening his grip around his mother.

"'Course I do. You're the man of my life," Meredith assured, and Derek snorted.

"That's supposed to be me"

"I'm sorry," Meredith giggled, sitting on the couch again and making some room for Bailey.

"Can't you go sit next to Ellis?" asked Derek, jokingly kicking his son's ankle with his bare foot. "I would like some closeness to my wife"

"I don't think so," Bailey smirked, his expression so similar to Meredith's. "You already sleep with her, so you can be close to her at night!"

"Bails will never have a girlfriend," Ellis muttered, still concentrated on the TV.

Zola fell on the carpet, bringing some pillow closer and trying to make herself comfortable. "How about we start this famous family time watching a movie and not opened bellies?"

"You're no fun," Ellis informed her sister, but she slided on the carpet with Zola and start making suggestion about the movie.

"I'll take the middle seat," Meredith decided, moving between Bailey and Derek to wrap up the joking fight. She knew they were playing, but they were both extremely stubborn and she wasn't exactly happy with the thought of seeing a movie with her ears full of their gripes.

"It's almost Christmas time," Ellis stated, handing to Zola _Home alone_.

"Are we going to watch this every year?" Zola complained, but placing the disk in the DVD player. "Ask Dad to buy you another copy, this one has holes on it."

Derek laughed softly at his daughters.

"This story of Ellis being the little one and getting to decide everything has to finish," Zola announced, leaning back to rested against Derek's legs.

"You love this movie as much as me!" Ellis grinned, knowing she has her sister wrapped around her little finger.

"It would be nice if your mother and brother would join us," Derek mumbled, looking at Bailey and Meredith, whispering and giggling about some pics the boy was showing his mother on his phone.

"Dad is jealous," Zola told Ellis, and both girls laughed.

They watched the movie, and then another one, getting up just to use the bathroom, and Meredith once more to order pizza. They ate in the living room, laughing and joking together, sharing a perfect time after months of not seeing each other.

Right after dinner, Derek and Ellis fell asleep, he with his head against Meredith's chest, her hand thrusting between his dark curls, and the girl with her head on Zola's lap, the girl's hand resembling her mother's, losing itself in her sister's curls.

"Ellis can't stay up for more than one movie," Bailey chuckled, his voice low so he won't disturb his father and sister.

"And Dad is getting old, indeed," Zola joked back, but they immediately heard Derek's sleeping voice complaining: "I'm not old!"

"You are," Meredith giggled, leaning down to kiss his lips chastely. "You're my old man"

"Dirty!" Zola exclaimed covering her ears. "Don't wanna hear!"

"That wasn't dirty!" Meredith retorted.

"They're like horny teenagers," Ellis observed, pouting, and Derek practically jumped up.

"What do you know about… _that_ word?!".

Meredith, Zola and Bailey were laughing hard and loud at Derek's reaction. Ellis was old enough to know a thing or two about sex - even if probably not by practice - but to Derek… no way. Until she would be forty, apparently.

"I was not born this morning, Dad" Ellis said, rolling her eyes. "And the rumors coming from your bedroom are really clever"

"Ellis!". This one was Meredith. Her cheeks and Derek's were crimson, while Zola and Bailey laughed as they were having the time of their lives. Teasing their parents about their love life was definitely the best way to spend family time.

* * *

 _ **And I've been keeping all the letters  
that I wrote to you,  
each one a line or two  
I'm fine baby, how are you?**_

Derek had been waiting for this every single moment of the previous week.

It was past midnight, they had watched three movies with the kids, even if they had watched just a few scenes: they had spent most of the time sharing stories and telling recent events. But right now, it was night, the sky was lightened by a pale moon and the drizzle was dirtying the windows of their bedroom. They were laying in bed, Meredith just wearing the ratty old Dartmouth t-shirt she had always wore to bed. Zola owned a brand new one - just not grey, actually a bright pink Derek found terrible - and Ellis had spent weeks throwing tantrums about how much _she needed_ that t-shirt. Meredith had been almost persuaded to let the girl have the t-shirt, even if it had some little holes along the sleeves, but Derek had been adamant. That t-shirt was a symbol of memories he wasn't willing to share with anyone but Meredith.

She had wore it during the first nights they had spent at her place, between realizing they were building something more than just sex and Addison appearing in their lives. She had wore it the morning they had shared their last kiss before Addison, and he had found it at the edge of her bed when they had came back together. She had wore it in the house of the wood, she had wore it while cuddling Zola to sleep, feeding Bailey and watching surgery tapes with Ellis. He had slowly removed it from her torso billions of times, inch by inch, ready to make love to her.

And she was wearing it now, years later, three kids later, when they had shared an history and more days they both could counts. Still, not enough days.

Derek was lazily caressing her belly, listening to her telling him quietly about the week at Grey Sloan Memorial, her forehead pressed against his cheek, the sweet scent of her breath tickling his mouth.

His hand drawed a pattern from her belly, to her hip, to her thight, and then again to her hip, across her belly, finally reaching her breast.

"I guess you don't wanna hear my shit anymore," Meredith giggled, moving a curl from his forehead.

"I do," he assured her, struggling to find a position which would allow him to spread kisses along her belly. "I just wanna hear and kiss you"

"Tell me, did you find a hot young thing to replace your old wife?" she teased, caressing his hair while he kissed her thighs.

"Old wife?" he asked, lifting his gaze to met her enchanting, emerald eyes, the little wrinkles around making them even more bright and shiny. "I don't have an old wife. I married the perfect twelve year old," he smirked, referring to how Addison had used to call Meredith when they had started dating after he got divorced.

"Your slutty intern has aged," she remarked, smiling slightly and trying to hold back a little wave of sadness, thinking about Mark. Thinking about Mark meant thinking about Lexie, and this was not the moment to cry about how very much, after so many year, she still missed her sister.

"She is still young and beautiful, and I still love her with all my heart".

Derek kissed her thigh once more, than moved upper and she closed her eyes, her head falling back in the pillow while she drowned in a pool of pleasure.

* * *

The following morning, Derek rolled over in bed and reached out for his wife; he was used to wake up with her cuddled against his chest, their legs intertwined. Instead, that morning he had found just cold sheets. He grumbled and opened his eyes, immediately surprised as he heard rumors coming from the kitchen. Rumors of cooking. This was definitely strange: nobody cooked in that house but him. Ellis was completely clueless, exactly like her mother; Zola was always busy writing, even if sometimes she tried to cook with him. And Bailey… not exactly his thing.

Derek reached for a pair of boxers and a t-shirt and climbed out of bed, determined to find where his wife were hiding and who was cooking. But when he reached the kitchen, he was greeted by a sight he hadn't saw in almost ten years, when Meredith had tried to cook eggs for her sister, Lexie, and had put avocado left-overs in the omelette.

Meredith was wearing the shirt he had wore the day before, and that she had ripped off his body at some point, the night before, her legs bare and skinny, her hair up in a messed bun. She was struggling with some stoves and she looked exactly like she had never done it before. And he didn't know if he was more tuned on or more amused.

"Mer?" he asked, approaching his wife.

"Hey," she breathed, not turning around. "Uhm, this is crap".

Derek embraced her waist and gaze from behind her shoulder to whichever she was cooking.

"No, it doesn't seem edible," he commented. He kissed her neck sweetly, breathing deeply in her scent. "And what are you trying to do? I think I remember a time when you told me you weren't trying to cook anything, anymore"

"Yeah, now I remember why I did promise you that!" she replied, frustrated, and threw away the spoon she had been held. "It's official, I can't"

"Mer, I love you but it had been official for years, now," he laughed, reaching for the spoon to see if he can rescue some of her… work. "You have always had people cooking for you, and this is the reason"

"Someone will wonder how I raised three kids," she pouted, raising her tiny body on the counter.

Derek threw away whatever Meredith had try to cook and start to get everything ready to cook his wife's favorite breakfast, eggs, bacon and sausages. Well, it was one of his many conquests of the years. Waking his wife with sex and a good breakfast on Sunday and holidays had managed to let her drop her habit of grilled cheese of pizza's leftovers.

"You managed because you have a great and sexy husband who can cook," he replied, grinning at her. She looked so hot sitting like that, her still incredible legs showing off his shirt. He should maybe suggest to her to go putting something on before he ravished her all over again with the risk of being caught by one of the kids.

"Not really in the mood to fill you ego, right now," she complained, still pouting. He went to her, making room for himself between her knees and kissing her bare collarbone.

"I don't care that you can't cook" Derek told her. "You are beautiful and kind, kind-hearted and funny. You give me great sex, which is a really big point, and you constantly shower me and the kids with love. I couldn't have asked for anything better"

"I love you," she murmured looking deeply into his blue eyes, saying the words for the millionth times in her life, but feeling her heart squeezing in her chest like the first one. Saying _I love you_ to Derek had turn a girl afraid of commitments in a wife and mother of three, but every time she said the words she felt exactly like the first time in the OR, asking him to pick her, to choose her, to love her.

To show her that forever, for her, was actually possible.

"I love you too, so much," he breathed back, claiming her mouth with his, gently slipping his tongue between her soft, plump red lips.

"Ew!" Bailey exclaimed, his voice suddenly mixing with the girls'.

"Oh God, they know no limits!" Zola breathed, thrusting her hands in the air.

"Sorry, guys," Derek laughed breathlessly, helping Meredith to climb off the kitchen counter.

"Mom, please, go get dressed," Bailey said again, trying to fix his gaze away from his mother's legs.

"Sorry, sweetie, going," Meredith assured, embarrassed as hell, but when she moved to the bedroom and Derek made a move to follow her, both three kids exclaimed: "No, dad! You stay here!"

* * *

The phone buzzing on the counter made him turn his gaze from Meredith, laughing with her sisters. It was probably a text message, and he usually didn't bother to read text messages when he was home with his family. Anyway, he reached with his hand and took the phone, unlocking the screen. His eyes grew in confusion when he saw who had texted him: Addison.

Derek hadn't thought about Addison in a long time. She was living in Los Angeles, and she was married with a kid. He knew she was happy, and he was content with that. They had exchanged a few emails through the years, telling each other how things were going, sharing the good news and sometimes even pictures of the kids. The last email he had gotten from her had been the year before, she was saying that her friend Charlotte was switching from Chief of Surgery at St. Ambrose to private practice to have more times for her… four? kids. So, Addison had taken the job. At almost fifty years old, Addison had a happy marriage, a child and a great job. She was happy.

Derek looked back at Meredith. She was sitting at the kitchen island, and she was perfect. She was beautiful, and hotter than when she was thirty, stealing carrots that Maggie was trying to cut for the salad. They were laughing and joking, while Amelia tried to check on the soup. His sister can't cook. Neither could Meredith. Hell, Meredith would probably burn down the entire house by just trying to make toasts. The only one who had cooking skills were Maggie.

Their kids - their three, beautiful, happy and smart kids were on the couch watching a marathon of _The Big Bang Theory_ with Owen, passing each other a bowl of pop-corns.

He was not happy. He was happier that he could have ever imagined.

Derek opened the text message from Addison: _Happy Thanksgiving, Derek! Hope everything is ok in Seattle. During festivity I feel the need to check on you… I'm happier than ever, I hope you are, too. - Addie._

Attached to the text, a pic: Addison - the same beautiful face, with perfect make-up on, a white sweater and her hair up in a bun - was snuggling with a man, who Derek knew was Jake, her husband, and a boy. Their looked content and happy. He snapped two pics - one of Meredith, laughing with the sisters, and the other one of the kids and Owen, and sent them to her with a few words: _Life's totally good._ He hit "send" and went to the kitchen island to wrap his arms around Meredith's waist and bury his nose in her hair.

Life wasn't good, with Meredith Grey. It was better.


End file.
